Across the Stars
by Amaterasu1969
Summary: The year is 3999 AD. Humanity has rose to become a Type II civilization. Lead scientist, Lunafreya von Silas, and archeologist Joharis de Lanfranya unearth the tomb of a silver haired demon lord long thought to be legend. When shadows from Sesshoumaru's past threaten a peaceful future, will the former Lord of the West rise in a world no longer his own, or will he usher its fall?
1. Area Twenty-nine, Sector 3

**A1969: yo! God, it's been ages since I've been on this site. First and foremost, an apology—I had to medical internship last year, and let me tell you, I had no time to sleep or eat, much less do anything else. Well, here I am. Alive. This story has been circulating in my head the whole of last year, and it feels good to get it out.**

 **This is the first time I'm dabbling in sci-fi, so please go easy on me. Corrections and constructive criticism are very much welcome!  
**

 **Note: For those following my "The Reincarnation of Miko Midoriko" fic, I am in the process of updating it. I'm already seven pages in. I hope you enjoy this story, and my foray into the world of science fiction.**

Summary **:** the year is 3999 AD. Demons are a fiction or a legend, and humanity has rose to become a Type II civilization. Lead scientist, Lunafreya von Silas, and architect Joharis de Lanfranya unearth the tomb of a silver haired demon lord long thought to be legend. When shadows from Sesshoumaru's past threaten a peaceful future, will the former Lord of the West rise in a world no longer his own, or will he usher in its fall?

 **Chapter 1: Area Twenty-nine, Sector Three**

* * *

 _October 1_ _st_ _3999 AD_

 _Earth_

 _Area twenty-nine, sector three_

* * *

Joharis de Lanfranya was not a big fan of the dark.

Unfortunately for him, that was exactly where he was.

Running a hand through his messy mane of dark hair, the archaeologist let out a sigh as lights flared around him, illuminating the damp cave. He looked up at the dark cave walls lit up by the dozens of flare lights hovering in the air. The cave had been an accidental find, he admitted.

And what an accident it was.

Though no stranger to the gloom of caves and tombs, it was rare for him to find such places as yet untouched by other people. In all honesty, there was very little for archaeologists to do these days, and most places on Earth had been catalogued and explored.

Most.

Glancing around him, there was no doubt in his mind that he and his team were the first to set foot in this tomb. It was strange, he admitted, for a tomb to be set so deep underground. Up ahead, at the far end of the cave wall, was an opening blocked by a boulder on which was draped thick ropes of _shimenawa._ He frowned.

Prior to opening the cave, he and his team had dispatched scanner droids around the area. The droids had definitely revealed the outline of the cave to be that of a tomb. Taking a step closer to the _shimenawa_ , he wondered…Was this a tomb or the shrine of a _kami_?

He heard soft steps behind him. "Ris? Will we open this today?" a feminine voice asked.

Ris turned to find a slim, dark skinned woman approaching. "Edea," he greeted.

Edea los Iris was his colleague. It had been she who had accidentally stumbled into the entrance of the cave in the first place. "Bri was wondering if you'd be opening this today," she tilted her head of thick black hair towards the boulder in front of them.

"Ah." Brilliane la Constantine, the overall site manager, was not known for her patience on digs, preferring to get things wrapped up as quickly as possible. But, like what Ris had told her a thousand times, you can't rush greatness.

"'Ah' isn't an answer," Edea said, grinning.

Ris turned back to the boulder before them. In truth, the cave—the so called ante-chamber—was barren. It was filled with neither treasures nor jewels, but a creeping chill, and a lingering black. It was, in truth, foreboding.

He checked his watch. It was a little after noon, but being down in the dark made him feel like it were later. "We could open this today," he said, gesturing to the boulder. "That'll make Bri happy, I suppose."

Edea reached into the pocket of her jacket and retrieved a blue, glossy sphere that fit into the palm of her hand. She tapped a button on it, and the sphere—a bot—lit up, casting her face with a muted light.

"I've done a preliminary scan on the main chamber of the tomb," she said. There was a hint of intrigue in her voice. "You might want to take a look at this."

She tapped the bot, and a holograph appeared above it. It was a layout of the cave, the ante-chamber they were in, and the main chamber beyond them.

Ris frowned as he stared at the layout of the main chamber. "Is that…?"

Edea grinned. Lifting a finger to the holograph, she tapped the main chamber. It zoomed in and he could see the outline of a red blur. "A heat signature," Edea said. He could hear the excitement in her voice.

Ris frowned as he stared at it. The red blur was right in the middle of the chamber. There were no other heat signatures leading to it, which excluded sources from the outside. He whistled. "What do you think that is?" he wondered aloud.

"My guess is as good as yours," she said. "Ris, we've dated this cave to the exact year it was closed—it was 1545 AD. This cave has been sealed for more than two thousand years. If that thing is giving off a heat signature, you can bet it's been around since then."

Ris could feel his own excitement stirring. "Right," he said. "Get excavator droids here. Let's crack this thing open."

"On it," Edea said.

* * *

 _En route to Titan_

 _Aboard Starship Erasmus_

* * *

"Incoming transmission, mistress."

Lunafreya von Silas, better known as Freya, looked up from the book she had been reading. She narrowed her violet eyes at the translucent control panel before her. "From whom?" she asked the computer, which she had set on autopilot no less than five minutes ago.

The computer, her own personal artificial intelligence retainer she had dubbed 'Turing', almost sounded amused. "A one Joharis de Lanfranya, I believe."

Freya closed her book with an audible snap. "I ought to put a censor on him," she muttered.

Turing's disembodied voice chuckled. "He claims it is urgent," Turing's cool male voice said. "His exact words were 'A life and career changing discovery like you wouldn't believe'."

Running a hand through her wavy blonde hair, Freya sighed loudly. "Those were exactly his words last week," she said, leaning back in the pilot's chair. She really ought to put a censor on him. He did nothing but waste her time every now and then with useless banter.

"He told me to tell you 'If I'm wrong, you can censor me for a month'."

Freya rubbed her temples. "Put him on, then," she conceded.

At once a holograph came to life in front of her, and she crossed her arms as Joharis de Lanfranya grinned at her. "Hello Looney," he greeted.

Freya's mouth was set in a thin line. "I've asked you never to call me that," she said, patience already growing thin. "You have five seconds to tell me what you want before I end transmission."

"Okay, okay," Joharis said, knowing she was dead serious. "We were excavating a site here on Earth, specifically in Japan"—how he had obtained clearance for that, Freya didn't want to know—"when we stumbled on a tomb. Untouched."

"Mummies?" Freya scoffed. "I'm an astrobiologist, not a—"

"It's not mummies," Joharis said, grinnigng. She was going to be speechless, he just knew it. "We opened the stone sarcophagus, and…let me just show you."

At once, Joharis vanished from the holograph. Freya found herself staring at a dark space illuminated by flare lights. She watched as the holograph shifted to a stone sarcophagus, roughly cut, and set in the middle of the chamber. Freya leaned slightly forward.

"We found this." The holograph focused on the contents of the sarcophagus.

Freya found herself staring at a man. She blinked. A…man. His eyes were closed, and he merely appeared to be sleeping. She narrowed her eyes as she took in the image. The man on the holograph was pale, with long silver hair. His bangs parted in the middle of his forehead to reveal a blue crescent moon, and two magenta stripes on each cheek. Ceremonial tattoos?

Next, she focused on his clothing. "It appears his garb is reminiscent of the Feudal Era of Japan," Turing offered. Freya studied his white and red kimono. She noted the black armor and spiked pauldron that he wore, a well as the yellow and blue sash tied about his waist. On his right shoulder there appeared what looked to be a white pelt.

Freya frowned. What caught her attention the most was the arrow. There was an arrow sticking out from the man's armored chest, embedded in the area where his heart would be.

"We've dated everything in this tomb to around 1500 AD," Joharis's voice said. "Specifically, 1545 AD. This tomb has never been opened Frey, and no one else has been here."

Freya leaned back and crossed her arms. "The joke's over, Joharis," she said, thinking she ought to censor him now. Really, what was Joharis saying? That the man in the tomb was more than two thousand years old? Impossible. Mankind had only learned to alter genetic structure to eliminate the aging process recently. The technology was only three hundred years old.

"What? You think I'm joking? Frey, I'm not," Joharis protested.

Freya could feel her temper slowly rising, but she pushed it back. "Bollocks. You'd have me believe that that man in the tomb is real? He doesn't look like a mummy at all."

"Nope, he looks like a fine piece of ass," a voice Freya recognized as Edea's interrupted. "I mean, I'm not into dudes, but even I would tap that one."

Freya rubbed her temples. "That cannot be a mummy," she muttered. Impossible. The man looked like he was asleep. And she had to agree with Edea's statement. The man looked as though he belonged on someone's bed than in a museum.

Joharis's face came back on the holograph. "I'm not saying he's a mummy Frey," he said. "That's not even the weirdest bit. Look at this, I'm sending you blood samples and preliminary DNA analysis. This is the reason I called you."

At once, microscopic slides filled the holograph before her. Freya frowned as she tapped on the image and zoomed in on the cells. Her eyes widened.

"I don't understand," she said.

"I knew you'd be shocked."

The cells that Freya was staring at were…alive. She could see several going through anaphase, could see intact red blood cells and white cells. Impossible. If the man had been dead for more than two thousand years, there should be no more cells, much less actively dividing cells. What the heck was Joharis playing at?

"Are you saying this man is alive?" Freya snapped.

"In a way…he seems to be in a state of suspended animation?"

Freya shook her head. "His cells shouldn't be that active if he were."

"That's not the weirdest part, Frey," Joharis went on. "Look."

Joharis's face vanished and was replaced with a holograph of a single strand of DNA. "I did a preliminary DNA analysis, if you don't mind."

Freya frowned as the labels appeared on the holograph, indicating the phosphoric acid compound, the deoxyribose sugar, and…

"Wait," Freya said. She tapped on the DNA strand, and the image zoomed in. "Turing, run an analysis on the components of the base pairs."

"Of course," Turing said. A moment later, he spoke up. "My findings indicate inconclusive results, miss Freya. The base pairing of this DNA strand is congruent with neither adenine, guanine, thymine or cytosine. Though, it might interest you to know some of the structure is compatible with canine DNA."

Freya's mouth dropped open. Impossible. As an astrobiologist, one of her concerns was extraterrestrial life. Though humanity had yet to make contact with sentient beings, they had discovered prokaryotes on several of Jupiter's moons, most especially Europa. She had been one of the first astrobiologists to analyze them, and had found that their DNA structure was similar to that of life the Earth had harbored—adenine, guanine, thymine and cytosine had been the base pairs.

But this…man.

She didn't know what to make of his DNA. Certainly, it had the deoxyribose sugar, the phosphoric acid, but…

The nitrogenous bases were…wrong. In fact, were they even nitrogenous bases?

She knew then that Joharis, smug as he was, was not joking. This was the kind of joke that was beyond him.

The holograph shifted to show the face of the man in the sarcophagus.

"What are you?" Freya murmured, tapping his image to look closer at it. She sounded both awed and disbelieving.

"Made you speechless didn't I?" Joharis's voice piped up.

Freya bit her lip. "Send me your exact coordinates, please," she said repentantly, thoroughly humbled.

"You're coming here?" Joharis said eagerly.

"Yes," Freya said. "I want to see him. Turing?"

"Yes, Miss Freya?"

"Set a course for Earth, once Joharis sends his coordinates," she said, leaning back in her seat. "And please send a message to Titan, to my mother and father. Please tell them I might not be joining them for dinner."

"Really? We've known each other three years, Frey, and you still call me Joharis," he said, interrupting her train of thought. "Why don't we change that, eh?"

He makes a mind boggling discovery, and already he's getting cocky, she thought. Men. She gave Joharis a small cynical smile. "We will see, Joharis," she said airily. "Send Turing the coordinates please."

"Right," the archaeologist said. "I'll see you in a while, my lovely Lunafreya." The holograph vanished as Joharis ended his transmission.

Freya placed her elbows on the armrest and interlaced her fingers, deep in thought. What on earth had Joharis uncovered? In fact, why Earth? Throughout the centuries, archaeologists had dug whatever there was to be dug on Earth. The last greatest discovery had been the ruins of an ancient city beneath the Philippine trench—Atlantis. And that was over a thousand years ago.

What was Joharis doing there in the first place? It was not easy to get clearance to excavate sites on Earth. Over the centuries, the Mother planet had suffered the consequences of pollution and human carelessness, and was only just recovering, thanks to terraforming. Clearance for Earth travel was severely restricted, much less an excavation which could damage the local eco system.

Whatever Joharis's reasons were, Freya shoved them aside.

"I've received coordinates, miss Freya," Turing said politely. The holograph flared to life, and showed her the destination.

"Area twenty-nine, sector three," Freya murmured. "Formerly known as Tokyo, Japan."

When humanity had begun its mass exodus to live on the different satellite systems in Solaris, the old Earth countries had been renamed according to area, and cities by sector while the planet was being 'rehabilitated'. Though humanity had kept its diverse culture, it had had to cede the homes that birthed them.

"E.T.A?" Freya asked.

"Two hours," Turing replied.

"Obtain clearance the moment we approach Earth," Freya said.

The holograph of the man in the tomb flashed before her, alongside an image of his DNA structure. She stared at the man's peaceful expression, her eyes fixed on the crescent moon on his forehead.

"I'll see you soon."

* * *

 _October 1_ _st_ _3999 AD_

 _Earth_

 _Area twenty-nine, sector three_

* * *

Ris took another drag of his cigarette and exhaled as he looked up at the late afternoon sky. What a day it had been, he thought. Who would have known he'd find something so unusual? When he and Edea had opened the tomb, and removed the heavy stone slab on the sarcophagus, he had reacted precisely as Lunafreya had—the man in the crypt couldn't be real. But he was, and he was a mystery.

A mystery he knew Lunafreya would love to sink her teeth into. She loved a good puzzle. Heck, the woman was a genius. But then again, she'd been made that way.

"Oy." He felt a light punch on his arm, and a moment later, Edea snatched the cigarette from his hand. "You know these are against the rules on Earth. Bad for you, bad for the environment." She tossed the cigar into a rubbish bin.

Ris shrugged. "Forgive a man for his little pleasures," he said.

"Speaking of pleasures," Edea went on. "Stop looking at the sky, she'll be here."

"Who said I was looking for Looney?"

"Shut up," Edea said, rolling her eyes. They walked back together towards the cave. The site was crawling with excavator droids, and other archaeologists who greeted them as they passed. "It's been three years since she turned you down, and you're not over her yet."

Ris shrugged. "We've got more important stuff to talk about," he said as they stopped at the hole in the ground that led to the cave.

"I'm just saying, I think Lunafreya can't feel love because she wasn't made to. Who knows," Edea said. They stepped onto the hoverpad and descended amidst the glare of flare lights.

"Of course she can," Ris said, grinning.

"Yeah, but unless you're a bacterium clinging to the side of an asteroid, she's just not interested in you," Edea said flatly.

"Ris!"

Both looked up as the hoverpad came to a stop at the bottom. A pretty girl, her dark hair in a ponytail, waved energetically at them.

"Ruriko!" Ris greeted as Ruriko So Hatsumoto came towards them.

"Any word from the ice princess?" Ruriko asked. She held a datapad in her hand, her bot hovering close to her shoulder.

"She'll be here soon," Joharis replied. "Getting clearance to land isn't really an issue for her, anyway."

Ruriko shook her head. "About Toby—"

"Toby?" Edea asked, raising an eyebrow at the Old Age name.

Ruriko gestured towards the tomb entrance with her datapad. "We don't really know that dude's name, and he seems to be…well…not dead, from a cellular point of view. Thought I'd call him Toby."

Edea and Ris stared at her. "He does not look like a Toby," they said in unison.

Ruriko ignored them. "I've catalogued the stuff down here," she went on. "From the boulder, to the _shimenawa_ right down to the twin swords on Toby's waist. Those I had the droids take away for safe keeping. You won't believe it, but the steel on them are still sharp as the day they were made. Really, I'm not exaggerating."

She tapped her datapad, and a holograph of two swords appeared above it. "See? The edges are still quite sharp, not a hint of rust on them, and considering these are more than two thousand years old, and that is cave is a bit damp, well…that says something."

Ruriko frowned at them. "Brilliane was asking whether or not we should move Toby aboveground, on a medicapsule."

Edea shook her head. "No, let's move him later, after Freya sees him," she said. "You know how irritable she can get."

Ruriko nodded in agreement. "I've had a medicapsule brought down, just in case," she said.

"Incoming transmission."

Ris fished out his assist from the pocket of his jacket, where a message gleamed on the sleek metal's surface. "Freya's here," he announced. "Bri is sending her down."

"For the love of all things, Ris," Edea said as they turned to the hoverpad. "Try not to make an idiot out of yourself, yeah?"

Ris chuckled as the hoverpad came into view, and Lunafreya von Silas stepped off, her expression guarded.

Ah, Ris thought as he stared at the slender blonde approaching them. She looked both intrigued and annoyed. It wasn't hard to fathom the reason for her annoyance. Like him, Lunafreya did not relish dark and cramped places. Which was probably the reason why Freya chose to wear a white fostrom fiber suit under her white jacket.

"How is she going to keep that clean in here?" Ruriko muttered.

"Frey!" Ris said as Freya approached.

"Good afternoon," Lunafreya greeted, in her rich Titan accent. Her bot hovered close to her head. "Well, Joharis? Where is it?"

Always straight to the point, Ris thought as he led them all towards the tomb.

Lunafreya glanced around her as Joharis led them towards a hole in the far side of the cave wall. Beside it was a boulder on which hung a thick braid of rope.

"A _shimenawa_ rope," Turing's voice said from the bot hovering near her head. "Used by Old Age Shinto priests for purification rituals."

"Thank you, Turing," Freya said as they followed Joharis into the tomb.

Flarelights blazed around them, and Freya shielded her eyes as her vision adjusted to the sudden glare. Beside her, Ruriko was mentioning all the items they had found with the subject. She paid her no mind. Cataloguing items did not interest her.

"Frey, honestly, thank you for coming on such short notice," Joharis was saying.

"You showed me an anomalous discovery I'd never seen before," Freya said as they stopped beside the sarcophagus. "Of course, I came quickly."

"And this," Ruriko said with a flourish. "Is Toby!"

Freya blinked. "She named it Toby," Edea said, sighing.

Freya peered into the sarcophagus, and her eyes widened slightly. Just as in the hologram, the man appeared intact, and at peace. What the holograph didn't show was how lustrous his silver hair was, or the richness of the markings on his face. It had also failed to show her the elven ears the man had.

Queer, she thought. She fished a pair of black gloves from her pocket and put them on. She placed two fingers on his neck, hunting for a pulse, but found none. She blinked, thoroughly surprised.

"No pulse," she said. "I assume he didn't have a whisper of cardiac activity?" She eyed the wooden arrow lodged in the man's chest.

"We only took blood samples," Edea said, crossing her arms. "We honestly didn't know what to make of him, Frey."

"Cerebral scans?" Freya asked. She gently opened the man's eyelid. His eye color was a beautiful shade of gold. Taking a penlight from her pocket, she shined it on his eye. His pupil constricted. "Brainstem function intact, at the least," she muttered, knowing Turing was noting her observations.

She withdrew her hands and stared at him. "Cerebral activity appears evident, as well as cellular activity," she said. "Which, considering the man is pulseless, should be impossible."

"Unless, you know," Edea said, "he's not really a man. Which is why we called you."

"His DNA structure is certainly puzzling," Lunafreya added. "It isn't made up of the same components as your typical nucleic acids. The base pairings are made of unknown substances—they aren't purines and pyrimidines. In fact…"

Her bot glowed and a holograph of the man's DNA hovered above them all. "The covalent bonds and hydrogen bonds that keep his DNA together is…non-existent."

Ris raised an eyebrow at her. "I'm not expert in astrobiology, but DNA can't exist without those bonds," he said.

Freya nodded. "No, normally, they can't," she agreed. "The strands are held together by an unknown energy force, the same force that is apparently keeping him alive despite the lack of cardiac activity." She ran a finger through the man's mane of silver hair, her expression thoughtful.

"With your permission," Freya went on, "I'd like to bring him back to Titan. Genetics are more my father's forte, and I'm sure his knowledge would be invaluable."

Edea, Ruriko and Ris glanced at each other. "The credit for the discovery would go to you lot, of course," Freya added. She knew how important credit was to them. For her, she hardly cared. She just wanted to get the man on her ship and back to Titan so she could solve the mystery of him.

Ruriko grinned. "Throw in a fancy dinner, and you can have him," she said.

"Really?" Edea said, sighing. "Probably the most important discovery of the century, and you're thinking about food?"

Ruriko shrugged. "Captain Von Silas is an amazing cook," she said, referring to Freya's mother.

"What do you think he is, Frey?" Joharis asked as Edea and Ruriko bickered.

Freya sighed. "I can't say," she said, but she felt a twinge of excitement through her. Was this man, perhaps, a sentient extraterrestial life form? It was certainly her current hypothesis. "He is very…intriguing."

Ris shook his head sadly. "Figures," he said, "that the first dude you'd be interested in is an anomalous mummy named Toby."

She raised an eyebrow, silently judging their choice of name.

"Ruri named him." Joharis shrugged. "Anyway…I'll have droids move him to the medicapsule, and you can transport him back with you to Titan. I'll talk to Bri about it, though. You know how touchy she gets."

Freya placed an hand on his sleeve. "Joharis, thank you," she said sincerely. "This…this man may be what I've been looking for my whole life—a sentient extraterrestrial. Not a prokaryote, for a change."

Joharis shrugged. "I knew you'd like him."

She gave him a genuine smile before she released her hold, and moved to supervise the droids as they gently lifted the man from the sarcophagus.

"Dude," Ruriko said, leaning over to him. "She's more interested in a mummy than she is in you. See?"

Joharis sighed.

* * *

 _En route to Titan_

 _Aboard Starship Erasmus_

* * *

"EKG readings indicate no electrical activity," Turing announced.

Lunafreya leaned against the wall of the _Erasmus_ , her eyes fixed on the white medicapsule in the center of the cargo bay. Sighing, she approached the medicapsule, pressing her hand against the cool glass. She looked inside, at the unusual—creature? Man? Mummy?—they had found.

No. This was definitely a person. A man. She regarded his appearance, and the clothing he wore. Turing had pointed out that the man was most likely a Feudal lord or a warrior.

Still…

"He is, to all intents and purposes, dead," Freya said, frowning. "And yet, he is also very much alive."

"Are you considering an undead hypothesis, miss Freya?" Turing asked, amused. His voice echoed from the computer display within the medicapsule.

She scoffed. "Don't be ridiculous," she admonished. "This man is only a very intriguing puzzle we have yet to crack. Have you inserted the tag?"

"Done," Turing said. A tag was a chip attached firmly to the skin behind the ear. It was designed to monitor a subject's cerebral activity. "It might interest you to know that—"

"No brain activity," she guessed, and Turing made a small noise of agreement. She thought for a moment. "Brain stem function is intact. Higher cortical centers obviously are not. This man isn't breathing. The lack of cardiac activity has probably to do with the fact that that arrow is in his chest. Scan it."

She watched as white light slowly travelled from the man's feet to his head. "The arrow in itself is unusual," Turing said. "The arrow has no fletching, and no barb. It is composed from the wood of a magnolia tree—"

"It must have taken great skill to fire an arrow like that," Freya said. Though, in all honesty, she had never really seen an arrow, and the only ones that she did see came from books. Such weapons were woefully inadequate for the day and age.

She tapped her finger on the cool glass, a single hypothesis forming in her mind. And, as was usual with Lunafreya, all hypotheses had to be tested no matter how silly.

"Open the capsule," she said.

The glass slid back with a faint hiss and Freya leaned over the man, her eyes narrowing on the arrow. "Do you intend to pull it out, mistress?" Turing asked.

"It's incredible how attuned to my mind you are," Freya said, violet eyes glancing up at the computer. "But yes. I have a theory I want to test. No, not a theory…more like a feeling." She realized it sounded quite unscientific.

Turing must have realized it too, because he said, "I do not see the point in such an endeavor, but I will support you. The arrow shaft has been thoroughly disinfected."

Freya nodded. "What do you suppose is the outcome if you pull out the arrow?" Turing asked.

"I have a feeling that his heart will start beating," Freya said. "It's…a strange feeling, Turing. Yes, yes, it's mostly intuition, but a woman's intuition is seldom wrong. If I'm wrong…well, what harm can it do? The arrow is without a barb, so damages to the internal organs won't be significant."

"I have never heard you use the word 'intuition' before, miss Freya," Turing said.

She ignored him, and wrapped her slender fingers around the shaft of the arrow. She frowned. Should she, really?

"To hell with it," she said.

And she yanked the arrow out.

* * *

 _Lub…dub…lub…dub…lub-dub_

The first thing he became aware of was the sound of something beating. It took his mind several moments to process that this beating was that of a heart— _his_ heart. His heart was beating…? Was he…breathing?

 _Lub-dub lub-dub lub-dub_

As his mind slowly emerged from the deep pit of unconsciousness he had been subjected to, his senses were assaulted by a barrage of scents and sounds all of which were foreign to him. He felt an immense weight above him, and realized that this weight was his body. A body which had not been moved in over two millennia.

 _Lub-dub lub-dub lub-dub_

His finger twitched, and the action itself felt alien and slow. He slowly curled the fingers of his left hand, and became aware of a scent beside him—floral, feminine, _human_.

 _Lub-dub lub-dub lub-dub_

"I was right," a voice near him whispered. It sounded both surprised and awed, and it was entirely unknown to him.

His left hand clenched into a fist as he felt two fingers gently feel the pulse in his throat. Enough.

He willed himself to awaken and, at once, _youki_ surged through his body, banishing the weakness he felt. He heard a gasp from beside him, heard the sound of a foot as it stepped back…

And then, for the first time in two millennia, the daiyokai Lord of the Western Lands slowly opened his eyes.


	2. The Ceresian Asteroid Field

**Chapter Two: The Ceresian Asteroid Field**

* * *

 _October 1_ _st_ _3999 AD_

 _En route to Titan_

 _Starship Erasmus_

* * *

Lunafreya found herself staring into gold.

She had never seen a gold of such color before. It reminded her of honey, or the rich amber Joharis would find on his excavations. She wondered how a mummy could have such clear, bright golden eyes when they should have been nothing more than dust. It took her a moment to realize that she was, to all intents and purposes, staring at eyes that should not be open.

The eyes stared at back at her, and Sesshoumaru frowned. The face that stared down at him was unfamiliar. Framed by a wavy main of golden hair, he was reminded of the foreigners his sister-in-law, Kagome, would tell him about. He had not recalled Kagome mentioning a foreigner with eyes the color of an iris. Queer.

"It appears that the subject has regained consciousness," Turing's cool voice commented.

Impossible. And yet, as Freya stared into the man's golden eyes, the impossible had just become the possible. The scientific part of her mind was thoroughly taken aback. More so than when she and her team had discovered bacteria beneath the ice on Pluto.

"I can see tha—" Before Freya could finish, she felt her back come into contact with the hard metal wall of the cargo bay with a loud thud. A second later, she felt pain coursing through her body as her muscles groaned in protest, felt a hand gripping her throat, pushing her against the wall.

Her eyes widened in shock.

The golden-eyed man had her by her throat. Her mind first wondered how? He had moved so fast, she hadn't been able to see his movements. How could he have such a strong grip after being 'dead' for the past two thousand years?

The next thing her mind did was panic. She gasped as his grip tightened, not enough to choke her, but enough to thoroughly frighten her.

"Human, who are you?"

Her eyes widened even further as she stared at the eyes of her captor. They were cold, cunning, and utterly pitiless. For the first time in a long time, she felt genuine fear coursing through her. This man's very aura screamed "predator" and she was hapless prey.

"I don't intend to ask a second time."

The voice was cold, smooth, and deadly. A small part of her mind wondered how the man could speak Solarian Primary. She snapped herself out of her stupor as she stared at him. The man's face was an emotionless mask, but his eyes were narrowed dangerously at her as he loosened his grip infinitesimally.

"My name is Lunafreya," she gasped. "I'm a scientist from the lunar planet Titan."

"Lunafreya." He repeated her name slowly, as though trying to get the feel of it. She supposed her name sounded queer to a man who had been dead for the past two thousand years. She was torn between fascination and a niggling fear for her life.

The man stared at her, his eyes raking her from head to foot. He frowned as he slowly glanced at the wall behind her, taking in the odd metallic structure, perhaps. He turned his head and glanced at his surroundings, and for a moment, Freya felt the confusion he surely must have felt. After all, this man had been alive when humans still used horses for transportation, and he was currently aboard her starship.

The grip on her throat tightened slightly, snapping Freya from her stupor. Turing, she thought. Before she could summon him, the man spoke again.

"Where am I?"

She knew Turing would have already engaged her defense droids. All she needed to do was call him. She was, however, a scientist, and admittedly, foolishly, this man fascinated her.

"You are aboard my starship, _Erasmus_ ," she said slowly, holding his gaze. "We are en route to my home, the lunar planet Titan."

He frowned at her, which was not a good sign. He was silent for a moment. "What year is it?"

Smart, she thought. "It's 3999 AD," she said, gauging his reaction. "Two Earth months before the celebration of the Golden Jubilee."

His eyes widened slightly, before they settled back to their cold mask. She saw the wheels turning in his head as his mind raced through a million thoughts, each more unpleasant than the last, judging by the way his frown deepened.

"What is Earth?" he suddenly asked.

Freya grasped the wrist at her throat. "Let me go, and I'll tell you what you've missed for the past 2,454 years."

The man's eyes narrowed at her, and she inwardly berated herself. How callous, she thought. Turing had mentioned the man was a feudal lord. She ought to be kowtowing, or something of the sort. She glanced at the monitor displayed behind the man, indicating that Turing was watching and listening.

"I mean," Freya said, trying to be more amicable. "Please let me go, and I'll give you information you might find useful, Lord…I didn't quite get your name."

Golden eyes narrowed dangerously at her. "I will ask the questions," he said coldly.

Freya narrowed her own eyes at him. "If you refuse to let me go, I will be forced to activate defense protocols."

"Silence," he snapped. She supposed 2,454 years was enough to make one acerbic. "Where are my swords?"

Was it just her imagination, or was there a note of urgency in the man's voice? For a moment, she thought she saw a flicker of concern in his eyes. She must have imagined it, she decided. "Swords?" she asked.

He narrowed his eyes dangerously, and tightened his grip on her throat, making her gasp. "Did I stutter?"

Freya glanced at the monitor behind the man, as his grip tightened around her throat. "I don't know anything about swords," she gasped. She suddenly had a vivid mental image of…was it Edea or Ruriko who had been talking about cataloguing items? Had swords been mentioned?

The man's frown deepened, and his grip tightened even further, finally enough to make breathing difficult. "S-stop," she gasped.

"Give me the swords," the man ordered, every word was punctuated with a cold, and powerful command that made the hairs on her nape stand on end.

"T-Turing! Activate—"

"At once, Mistress."

The golden eyed man glanced around for any sign of the owner of the voice, his grip loosening. At that moment, the blast doors slid open with a hiss to reveal five defense droids, fully armored, and carrying blasters.

The droids had been the latest model the Militia had created. Black, sleek and crafted from a strong titanium alloy, anyone would have been frightened to face Black Death defense droids.

The man, however, was not.

Turning away from Freya, he faced the droids, a clawed hand held in front of him. Freya stared at his claws. "Intruder," one of the droids said, in its cool, apathetic voice. "Surrender now, and await your tribunal. You are trespassing on the personal starship of Lady Lunafreya von Silas."

The man looked bored. "You talk too much," he said, his voice deadly. He flicked his wrist towards the droid, and a whip of green light burst from his fingers. It whizzed through the air, severing the droid's head, faster than the eye could blink.

Lunafreya gaped. What on Earth just happened?

The droids immediately surrounded the man, blasters aimed at his head. The man did not seem fazed in the least. He glanced over his shoulder at Freya, who was still slumped against the wall in disbelief.

"Do you think such petty creatures are a match for I, Sesshomaru?"

Sesshomaru…

So that was his name.

He turned back towards the droids. "Die."

Sesshomaru was nothing more than a blur as he sped towards the droids. "Fire!"

Flashes of blasterfire rained down on Sesshomaru, but he easily dodged them all. The next thing Freya heard was a screech of metal as his claws pierced through one of the droids' chest.

Holy. Shit.

He ripped through the titanium alloy like it was nothing but _paper._ She watched, in morbid fascination, as the hand within the droid glowed a toxic green, and the metal began to _melt._

Titanium had a melting point of more than a thousand degrees celsius, and he'd melted through in less than _five seconds._

 _What on earth is he?_ She thought as Sesshomaru flung the hapless droid aside. She was reminded of a doll an uncaring child would toss away.

"Mistress?"

Freya glanced to her left. Her bot was hovering in the air beside her. "Turing?"

"Now would be a good time to make an exit."

Freya nodded, and immediately dashed towards the open blast doors.

Sesshomaru frowned as the woman ran towards the exit. He ran after her, but found his way blocked by the remaining droids, blasters all pointed towards his heart.

"Pests."

Freya glanced over shoulder, just in time to see the man called Sesshoumaru aim that strange whip of his towards the droids. _He's treating them as if they were just nothing_ , she thought. "Turing, seal all five layers of the blast door."

"At once." Immediately, the blast doors began closing, and Freya let out a breath. Each layer was made of titanium, six inches thick. Surely, he wouldn't be able to pierce through that?

Hearing a hiss, Sesshomaru turned towards the blast doors, just as they slowly slid into place. He leapt over the droids and Freya took a step back from the closing doors. The last thing she saw of him were his cold, golden eyes, as the last door closed with a loud thud.

A bothersome woman, Sesshomaru thought as he turned back towards the droids. Blasterfire filled the air, all aimed towards him. He easily dodged, and made quick work of the droid nearest him.

The woman could run.

But no one could ever hide from him.

* * *

On the other side of the door, Freya heaved a sigh of relief. She hadn't run so fast in her life. "Turing, show me a feed from the cargo bay," she said, turning towards her bot.

"I don't think you'll like it," Turing said, before flashing a holographic projection in the air before her.

Freya's eyes widened in shock. All the remaining defense droids, deadly weapons of war, impervious to a great many weapons, and used by the Militia for warfare, were…destroyed. All of them lay in a smoking circle around Sesshomaru's feet.

"Well, I'll be damned," Freya muttered. Sesshomaru was holding a piece of circuitry from one of the droids in a clawed hand. He appeared to be examining it, golden eyes staring intently at the sparks from the wires. For an instant, Freya felt a strange sense of pity for him. Here was a man who was out of his depth, and entirely out of his time. Had he had family? Were they like him, strange creatures of power? Were they still alive? What had happened to him? Why had he been sealed off in that cave?

Sesshomaru suddenly turned towards the blast doors.

"He's not going to—"

Before she could finish, Sesshomaru raised a clawed hand towards the door. She heard a dull thud as he struck, but the titanium held. The question was, for how long?

"Turing, let's go," Freya said. She immediately ran down the long hallway, past her personal library and lab, and towards the cockpit. The doors hissed open, and she settled herself in the pilot's chair. "Close all ten blast door layers," she ordered, and the doors immediately slid close.

"Approaching the Ceresian asteroid field," Turing announced.

Freya flipped the controls on autopilot. Though navigating through the asteroid field was easy enough, comms could barely go through due to the heavy interference of signals from the asteroids. She would have to wait till they cleared the field to send a distress signal.

"We could try making an emergency landing on Ceres," Freya muttered, thinking of the only planet within the asteroid belt.

"I advise against it," Turing, said.

Freya leaned back. How long would it take Sesshomaru to burn through the blast doors? Ten minutes? Fifteen? Surely, it must be longer. Still, she couldn't take her chances. Ceres was nearby, but the small planet had just been terraformed. It was a wild jungle of a planet, with hardly any civilization, and mostly frequented by smugglers and pirates.

Either that or risk getting killed by the enigmatic Sesshomaru.

Speaking of which.

"Turing, run a search on Sesshomaru. See if anything comes up. He's not a human, that much is for certain," she said. "And give me a feed of the cargo bay, please."

"As you command," Turing said. At once a holographic feed appeared before her. A cargo bay that was empty, a burnt hole in the blast doors.

"It appears the subject has broken free," Turing commented.

"Gee, you don't say," Freya said rolling her eyes. How long would it take for him to find her here? Should she just abandon ship all together? No, to eject within the asteroid field was stupid, careless, and a suicide wish.

"I've come up with search results for Sesshomaru," Turing announced. "Sources are scarce, and most are orally transmitted legends, concerning _yokai_."

" _Yokai?"_

"Translated to mean 'demon'," Turing said. "According to legend, a great dog demon once prowled the Western lands of old feudal Japan as its lord." A different holographic image cut into the cargo bay feed, depicting an ancient Japanese painting. On it was painted a large silver dog, seemingly standing upon a cloud, and looking down on the land below him.

"A…dog…demon?" Freya said, shaking her head. "Turing, that did not look like a demon. Much less a dog."

"Legends are scarce, and this was all I could find," Turing said, almost sounding petulant. "Speaking of dog."

The holograph shifted to reveal the hallway right outside the cockpit door. Freya gasped. Sesshomaru stood outside her door, head tilted slightly to one side, as though he were listening intently.

"Don't tell me he can hear us in here," she said. "Those doors are practically sound—"

Sesshomaru raised a glowing clawed hand. "Scratch that," Freya said. "Turing, can you send a distress signal to my mother? Can you engage more droids?"

"Unfortunately, comms are still down," Turing said. "We no longer have any other droids, mistress."

Freya inwardly swore. Her mother had told her to bring a small battalion of droids, but she never listened, did she? She pressed a button on the armrest of her seat, and a panel slid away to reveal small blaster hidden beneath. The odds of winning against him were slim, she admitted, but she'd be damned before she left herself be brought down without a fight.

"Set a course for Ceres," Freya said. Better pirates and smugglers than what was waiting for her outside the door. "Get a distress signal through, Turing. It might reach my mother."

"Understood."

Freya watched the holocam, watched as Sesshomaru struck the titanium doors with those claws of his.

The corrosive power of whatever was in his claws was very potent, Freya admitted, as a hole slowly formed in the first layer of Titanium. Could the man really be what Turing said he was? A giant dog demon straight out of legend?

"Well," she said to herself, as she switched on her blaster. "If he'd bigger, he would have been easier to shoot."

* * *

Sesshomaru scoffed as the last door of metal dissolved before him, leaving a gaping hole in its wake. The doors had been hard to go through, he admitted, silently wondering at the progress the humans made in the years he'd been asleep. He flung the thought aside as he stepped through the hole.

He had more pressing matters to attend to.

"Take one more step, and I'll shoot you."

The first thing he noted was the queer white room he found himself in. To one side was a window spanning the length of the room, and beyond it was an endless black with pinpoints of light and what appeared to be enormous rocks hovering in the air. Queer.

The second thing he noted was the woman.

The woman, Freya, was standing in the center of the circular room. She held a black weapon in her hand, similar to what the metal men had earlier. A black weapon that was pointed at him. Did she honestly think that would work?

Hovering beside the woman was a small circular metal ball. A voice emanated from it.

"Might I inform you, mistress, that the chances of winning are quite slim," it said, in a strange cool voice.

"I know, Turing. Shut up and be supportive for once!"

"Enough," Sesshomaru said, growing impatient.

Freya frowned. "Stay right there," she snapped, blaster aimed between his eyes. Could the man hear how fast her heart was beating?

"You presume to order me?" Sesshomaru took a step towards her, and tilted his head at the last second as a single shot flew towards him. He felt heat grazing his cheek, accompanied by a small trickle of blood. A scratch.

Freya gasped. In all honesty, she hadn't meant to shoot. She'd panicked, something which she rarely had cause to do.

He glared.

He was nothing more than a white blur as he sped towards her. She rolled and fell to one side, and a second later, heard the sound of metal screeching. Sesshomaru's growing green claws had struck her control panels.

She swore.

"Autopilot disengaged," Turing announced, as Sesshomaru withdrew his claws from the metal structure. He turned to Freya, who quickly got to her feet, blaster in hand.

"Reengage autopilot," Freya said, not taking her eyes off him. He faced her, claws flexed.

"Autopilot systems offline, I'm afraid," Turing said.

"Initiate repair sequence, Turing!"

"I'm afraid the toxic corrosion in his claws is impairing the nanites' self repair capabilities."

Freya swore again. "Shields?"

"Main shields down. Back up shield systems online," Turing said.

Sesshomaru saw the woman's face pale, as she glanced towards the window. This gave him pause. Was there something this woman feared more than him?

Her eyes snapped to him, and he noted the fear was replaced with a steely resolve. He watched as she tossed her weapon aside, leaving herself vulnerable to him.

"I am not your enemy," she said slowly.

His claws glowed green, and she gulped. "I apologize for shooting you. I did not mean to."

"Your point?" Sesshomaru said, golden eyes narrowing dangerously.

Freya gestured towards the great window. "Right now, we are not on Earth or any planet. We are flying in space, in an asteroid field. Those rocks you see floating outside? They are asteroids. If one hits this ship, we could be in danger. Hitting a big asteroid could mean we both die. I need to pilot this ship myself."

Sesshomaru glanced towards the window, loathing how he felt lost and out of his depth. Little of the woman's words made sense. He had been asleep for two millennia, after all. He might not have understood the woman's jargon, but he could see the genuine fear in her eyes.

Or perhaps she was bluffing.

Freya, sensing his distrust, went on. "You and I won't survive if our ship goes down," she said, slowly. "I don't have your swords, but to prove to you I am not an enemy, I will help you find them. I swear on my life."

Sesshomaru seemed to consider this. To accept help from a human was beneath him. However, admittedly, he was at a disadvantage. This strange new world he found himself in confused him. It would take a while to orient himself to it, and it was time he did not want to waste.

He needed the swords.

"And should you fail?"

"Then you can do what you will with my life," Freya said, her violet eyes set with steely resolve.

"Mistress, I don't think it's wise…" Turing said slowly.

"Hush, Turing," Freya snapped. She was making a dangerous promise towards a dangerous man (was he even a man?), but what choice did she have? If she did not pilot this ship, they would be dead in minutes. Already, she felt the ship tipping slowly.

She looked towards Sesshomaru, keeping her eyes fixed on his. He suddenly scoffed, and turned his back on her. "Do as you wish," he said impassively.

She breathed a sigh of relief as she rushed past him and settled herself in the pilot's chair. At once, a panel on the controls slid back, and the control wheel rose to meet her hand. Though she was not as excellent a pilot as her mother, she could manage the Ceresian asteroid field.

"You might want to sit down," Freya said, looking over her shoulder at Sesshomaru. She gestured to the vacant seat beside her, and he frowned. "Unless you want to be tossed about like a ragdoll, then by all means."

Surprisingly, he complied and sat down beside her. To his credit, he didn't start when Turing's automatic seatbelts fashioned themselves around his waist.

Freya gripped the control wheel and banked hard to her starboard side, narrowly avoiding a small asteroid hurtling past. "That was close," she muttered, to which Sesshomaru made no reply. Her eyes found the holographic radar display, indicating that were no near asteroids at the moment.

"Turing? Did that distress signal go through?" she asked.

"Affirmative," Turing said, bot hovering from beside her head. "Though I've yet to receive a reply."

"That's fine," Freya muttered. Now that Sesshomaru had seemed to calm down and was currently not after her neck, she saw no reason to rush for back up. An asteroid hurtled towards them, and she gently steered the ship to her portside. Stars, she hated manually piloting through the asteroid field.

"By the way," Freya said, glancing towards her silent companion. "I realize we got off on the wrong foot earlier. Let's start over, shall we? My name is Lunafreya von Silas, daughter of Captain Emerys von Silas, and Dr. Maximus von Silas."

He stared at her, and did not reply.

"Quite the silent type," Turing commented, and Sesshomaru glared at the little ball of metal.

"Turing…Did I program you to be this talkative?" Freya said, sighing.

"No," Turing replied pleasantly. "I learned, if you will recall."

"Well, shut—"

 _BOOM!_

Freya gasped as she was thrown near the edge of her seat. She groaned as her head snapped back. "What on earth?!"

"Laserblasts from an unknown ship, mistress," Turing said.

Freya pressed a button, and at once, the interior of the ship seemed to fade away, and Sesshomaru suddenly found himself surrounded by an endless black, with pinpoints of light and hovering rocks. "Don't worry, it's a parallax view," Freya told him. "Think of it this way—the entire interior just became a giant window."

She glanced behind them, and frowned. A starchaser was speeding towards them. "Pirates," she muttered. She hit the throttle and the _Eramus_ sped off just as a hail of laserblasts rained towards them. "I thought we were cloaked!"

"Most likely, they intercepted your distress call, mistress," Turing commented.

"Marvelous," Freya said, rolling her eyes. She swerved to avoid a hurtling asteroid. "Back up shields?"

"Holding at seventy-five percent capacity," Turing announced.

"Blast cannons?"

"Control panel systems offline," Turing said.

Freya resisted the urge to glare at Sesshomaru. This was not how she imagined her day would play out at all. "Let's shake them off then," she said. She steered the _Erasmus_ between two asteroids just as the starchaser unleashed another bombardment of laserblasts. She could feel several blasts make contact, and she swore quietly.

"Shields at sixty-five percent capacity," Turing announced.

"Send another distress call!" Freya exclaimed as she made a sharp turn around an asteroid. The deafening booms of laserblasts striking an asteroid roared behind them. She glanced towards Sesshomaru. "I understand this all looks confusing to you, but I'll explain everything once we've shook them—"

"Incoming transmission."

At once a hologram appeared before them. A woman's haughty face dominated the hologram. Her dark hair was pulled into a taut ponytail atop her head. What distinguished her the most were her two-toned eyes—one blue, the other green—and the jagged scar that ran down the middle of her face.

"Avadine," Freya said curtly.

The woman smiled maliciously at her. "Well, well, well," she said, like a cat about to pounce. "Lunafreya von Silas, all alone and unescorted! My scanners tell me your weapons systems are offline. Isn't that interesting?"

Freya glared at her. Avadine Le Fay was a notorious smuggler and pirate, quite feared throughout the whole of Solaris. She was as slippery as she was deadly, and the main reason why many traveling through the Ceresian asteroid field always cloaked their ships, and never tried to send transmission for fear of being traced by her deadly fleet.

She resisted the urge to glare at Sesshomaru who, after all this time, remained silent.

"Lovely seeing you in these parts," Freya said nonchalantly as she swerved to avoid an incoming asteroid. Another loud boom resonated behind them as the starchaser's laserblasts hit another wayward asteroid.

"Oh, my dear, beautiful Lunafreya," Avadine said, her smile growing malevolent. "So far away from mommy dearest? You know what I call that? Fate. How loud do you think Emerys will scream once I've sent her your head in a box?"

Freya quirked an eyebrow. "You'd have to catch us first, wouldn't you?" To emphasize her point, she engaged her throttles, and the _Erasmus_ shot forward. She was hitting 5,000 Gs, the fastest she had ever gone without losing control of her ship. Her mother, Emerys, one of the most skilled pilots in Solaris, could easily reach 8,000 Gs. The starchaser immediately fell behind.

"Run fast, my little mouse," Avadine said, as the holograph vanished.

"Turing, give me options," Freya said, as she quickly dodged another asteroid.

"Shields at fifty percent capacity, mistress," Turing said regrettably. "If we accelerate any further within the asteroid field, we will have an eighty-five percent chance of crashing." Turing paused as Freya made a sharp swerve. Behind them, Avadine's starchaser had accelerated and was gaining.

"I'm no Anakin Skywalker, and I can't keep this up," Freya said. There was a loud boom as one of Avadine's shots made contact with the _Eramus'_ shield.

"Shields at forty percent capacity," Turing said. "I would suggest landing on Ceres."

"To hide?" Freya said, incredulous.

"It would be harder to find you in a jungle than here in the asteroid field," Turing admitted.

Freya glanced towards Sesshomaru. He seemed to be doing fine. In all honesty, he looked bored. Was the man incapable of emotion, or was he an android? How was she going to handle him?

"Fine," she said. "Set a course for Ceres."

"With our current speed, we should be arriving at the planet in a few minutes," Turing announced.

Freya made another turn, silently thanking the _Erasmus_ ' twin ion engines. The ship was not build for such a chase, being more of a civilian starship than an actual starfighter, but it was holding well.

"Approaching the planet Ceres," Turing announced, as the blue and green planet came into view.

"It's similar to our planet, Earth," Freya said, glancing briefly over her shoulder at Sesshomaru. "But it isn't our homeworld. It's relatively new, so there aren't much people on it yet. It's mostly flora and fauna. I _will_ help you find your swords, but we have to lose Avadine first."

He, typically, did not reply.

Silence means yes, Freya thought.

Up ahead, the asteroid field thinned out and she could make out the little dwarf planet before her. Swirling white clouds dominated the surface, and beyond that, she could make out patches of green and blue.

She paled.

As if by magic, several starchasers appeared from behind the last few asteroids. She immediately slowed just as the starchaser behind them drew closer. "Checkmate," Freya muttered as she leaned back in her seat. She glanced over her shoulder, at Sesshomaru. Had it just been almost an hour ago that he was trying to cut her head off? Strangely, she felt a bit responsible for him at the moment.

He glared at her. "I'm relying on you to be very durable," Freya said.

He understood what she was about to do. He scoffed, and Freya turned back to the front. "Divert ninety-percent power to thrusters," she said. In front of them, the blast cannons from the fleet of starchasers began to glow red as they prepared to fire.

"Done, mistress."

She pressed down on full throttle, and the _Erasmus_ sped towards the wall of starchasers before them. "Shields?"

"Forty-percent capacity," Turing replied.

Please hold, Freya thought. At once, the white material of her fostrom fiber suit extended itself to cover her arms, legs and fingers. It extended further upward, enlarging around her head to become a helmet with a visor. She hoped Sesshomaru was as durable as he looked.

The starchasers before them did not scatter.

"Impact imminent in T minus fifteen seconds," Turing announced.

"Hold on," Freya said, glancing over her shoulder at Sesshomaru.

A loud boom suddenly resonated behind them and Freya lurched forward on her seat. Avadine was opening fire on her starship. As if on cue, the starchasers unleashed a hail of laserblasts.

"Shields at thirty percent…twenty percent…ten…"

Sesshomaru glanced at the woman. He understood what she was going to do. There was no doubt in his mind that if these 'shields' of theirs reached zero before she made impact, they would both be dead. He, was quite literally, entrusting his life to a human he did not know.

He hated it.

"…five…"

Sesshomaru nearly lurched forward as the ship collided with one of the starchasers before them, bursting through the wall of ships and speeding towards the 'planet' before them. "Zero."

"Engine power at zero capacity, shields at zero capacity. Back up generator systems offline."

Another loud boom resonated as the ships behind them open fired. At once he became aware of the smell and sight of smoke as the ship began to hurtle towards the planet. The leather straps restraining him fell away, and he stood at once, digging his claws into the seat to keep his balance at the ship continued to fall. All around him, the parallax view dissolved until he could see the interior of the ship once more.

The woman had been thrown from her seat. She was lying in a heap at the foot of the control panels. He leapt towards her, digging his claws into the metal floor as the ship tipped forward. He wound an arm around her waist, drawing her tightly to him as the ship began a deadly spiral towards the ground. He peered at her face through the strange helmet surrounding her head. The fogging glass told him she was still alive.

"Are you capable of extricating yourself from this vessel?" the little metal ball, now hovering close to his head, asked. "I mean, can you get out?"

Sesshomaru glared at it. "Then please do so," the little ball said. "I am not certain if either of you will survive impact otherwise. We have T minus twenty seconds before we hit the ground."

Sesshomaru retracted his claws from the floor. He flew into the air, keeping pace with the falling ship as he flexed his claws. "Oh, you can fly! That is fascinating," the little ball remarked, and he wanted to slash at it.

"Be quiet," Sesshomaru snapped, as it flew into one of his sleeves, and tucked itself away. There was a loud of groan of metal as he slashed through the wall of the ship with his clawed hand. Securing the woman closely to him, he flew out of the ship, and into the open sky. A few moments later, there was a loud boom, and a burst of flame as the ship crashed into the jungles below them.

"Oh, dear," the little ball said.

* * *

 **A1969: hello everyone! Sorry for taking a while. I'm currently in the middle of the biggest exams of my life, but this chapter wanted to be written. Thank you to those who read and reviewed for the previous chapter! Please let me know how this story is going through your reviews. : )**

 **For those who are asking about my Midoriko fic, well…It's coming along, but I have a mental block for it at the moment. It will be done. Please know that I have no plan of abandoning any of my fics, so please don't worry.**

 **Please review!**


	3. Jungle Planet Ceres

**Chapter Three: Jungle Planet Ceres  
**

* * *

 _October 1_ _st_ _3999 AD_

 _Earth_

 _Area twenty-nine, sector three_

* * *

"Oy."

Ris pulled his eyes away from the night sky, just as Edea came out of her tent. She raised an eyebrow at him. "We need help cataloguing in here. Wanna give us a hand?"

"I'm more of a digging person," Ris began.

"None of your excuses, de Lanfranya!" Edea snapped as she grabbed him round the ear.

"Ow, ow, ow, Ed!" Ris tried to free himself from Edea, but she was firm. She shoved him through the tent flap, and he stumbled in.

"Look what the cat dragged in!"

Ris blinked, his eyes adjusting to the glare of the flarelights in the tent. A large wooden table dominated the center of the tent, and on it were piled dozens of artifacts they'd taken from the tomb earlier. Ruriko was sitting at the head of the table, her bot hovering beside her. Ris watched as it scanned each item Ruriko presented to it before she handed it to a droid beside her for packaging.

"Do you really need my help?" Ris asked in a long suffering voice.

"Sit!" Edea pushed a chair towards him, and he sighed.

"Why the long face?" Ruriko asked, looking up from the sword she had been holding. "After seeing Freya, I would have thought you'd look happy."

"She didn't look as happy to see me," Joharis said, sighing heavily.

Edea rolled her eyes. "Just because she is your fiancé, doesn't mean she has to like you," Edea said pointedly, bringing the _shimenawa_ on the table close to her.

"She hates me," he pointed out.

"Lunafreya hates that she has to marry you," Ruriko said. "Granted, you'll only be married when she says you may. Meaning, if she grows to like you…which she probably won't."

Edea shook her head. "Arranged marriages for political gain are so medieval," she muttered. "We're living in the fortieth century, for crying out loud!"

"She hasn't really called off our engagement," Ris said hopefully.

"She doesn't want to upset too many people," Edea said, allowing her bot to scan the _shimenawa_. She shook her head. "Joharis…you do realize you're quite free to date around, right? You don't need to stick to Lunafreya. Normally, people would call that cheating on their fiancé, but yours is an arranged marriage. You've got no feelings for each other…mutual feelings, anyway. Besides, if you find someone else, you're free to call off your engagement."

Ris sighed. Edea glared at him. "Oh, for goodness' sake, you're—"

"Ris!" All of three of them jumped as a plump young woman with ebony curls stumbled through the doorway. Her cheeks were flushed and she appeared out of breath.

"Brilliane?" Ris asked, immediately leaping out of his chair to help her.

"Cap…captain von Silas," Brilliane said, taking a deep breathing. "She sent me a transmission." She held out her bot and a holograph appeared before them. A woman appeared in the holograph. She appeared to be in her forties with jetblack hair tied back into a high ponytail. She looked quite severe.

"Captain von Silas," Ris said smoothly, inclining his head respectfully at her. "Good evening. I hope you're doing well?"

"Cut the pleasantries, Joharis," she said, a tone of her urgency in her voice. "Lunafreya…Is she with you?"

Ris shook his head. "She left after collecting a…specimen here. She was bringing it back to Titan to consult with Dr. von Silas."

Emerys von Silas narrowed her eyes. "I received an emergency transmission from her," she said. "She was in the Ceresian asteroid field. Her transmission made mention of a…mummy? A mummy hunting her down. If that was not odd enough, Avadine—"

"WHAT?" Everyone in the tent exclaimed.

"A mummy? Do you mean, Toby?" Ruriko asked, eyes widening.

"There must be some mistake," Edea said. "That mummy was…well, a mummy. It was sort of dead."

"Avadine?" Joharis interjected.

"What, do you mean the mummy she brought with her from here?" Brilliane added.

"QUIET!" Emerys von Silas said. "One at a time, if you please. I'm in a hurry. I have to organize a search and rescue, as we've lost the _Erasmus_. Most likely, her ship crashed into Ceres after Avadine chased it down."

Joharis felt his stomach lurch. It was no secret that Avadine le Fay wanted revenge against Emerys von Silas, and what better way to get it than going after her daughter?

"What did Freya mean by a mummy?" Emerys asked.

Ruriko told them briefly of how they'd found Toby, and why they'd allowed Lunafreya to take him back with her to Titan. "He wasn't really…dead? Well, he was sort of dead."

Edea, ever the logical one, shook her head. "Lunafreya was probably panicking and jumbling her terms."

Emerys nodded. "I find it hard to imagine a mummy hunting her down. She probably meant Avadine, then." She paused. "Thank you for your time." Without another word, the transmission ended and the holograph of Emerys von Silas faded away.

It was quiet in the tent.

Joharis ran a hand across his hair, worry taking hold of him like a vise. "What the hell's happened to her?" he muttered. "Emerys mentioned the _Erasmus_ crashed into Ceres."

"Freya was probably able to eject," Edea said soothingly, placing a hand on Ris's shoulder.

"If she did, Avadine will still be hunting her," Ris said darkly. "I ought to be out there looking for her." He made a move to stand, but Edea dragged him back down.

"That is not your area of expertise!" she said. "Ris, you can barely fire a blaster. Waiting would be best for now. Let Captain von Silas and the Militia handle it."

"I can't just sit here and do nothing!" Ris exclaimed.

"Do you really think Toby came back to life?" Ruriko interrupted. "What if…what if he's a zombie and he wants Lunafreya's brains!"

They all gave her funny looks.

* * *

 _October 2_ _nd_ _3999 AD_

 _Dwarf Planet Ceres_

 _Somewhere in the jungles_

* * *

A soft throb woke Freya.

Slowly opening her eyes, she realized this throb came from the frontal area of her head. She blinked. Her vision was obscured by her suit's helmet, but above her, she could see a rocky ceiling with glistening stalactites. She blinked, and images began flooding her mind…The chase through the asteroid field…crashing through Avadine's fleet…

The living mummy called Sesshomaru…

She immediately shot up and felt a rush of vertigo overcome her. She swore quietly as she leaned on her elbows, waiting for the head rush to pass.

"Oh, thank the stars, you're awake!" a cool male voice near head said.

She glanced up to find Turing hovering above her head. "Turing," she said as her helmet dissolved back into the suit she wore. She ran a hand through her mane of golden hair, frowning. "What…happened?" She glanced around, surprised to find herself sitting on a cave floor. Across from her, the enigma that was Sesshomaru leaned against the wall, an arm on a bent knee, golden eyes studying her closely. There was a warm fire crackling between them. "Are we on Ceres?"

"Yes," Turing answered. "My initial diagnostics indicate your vital signs are quite normal. No signs of internal hemorrhage, or broken bones. Only pertinent finding is a mild concussion to the frontal area. I took the liberty of activating your nanites."

"Thank you," Freya said. She could feel the nanites release painkillers through her bloodstream, and she let out a sigh of relief as the throbbing in her head dulled. "Turing, what happened?"

In response, Turing hovered in the air between her and Sesshomaru. At once, a holograph appeared on the ground before the little metal ball. It was a recording of the events on the _Erasmus_ after she crashed their ship against Avadine's fleet. Freya watched as she was thrown off her seat, and rammed against the metal of the control panels. She watched as Sesshomaru easily freed himself from his seat, and leaped to her. She felt a bit awed as she watched him jump into the air, and slash at the ship, allowing them to escape into the open sky.

Well, Freya thought as the holorecord ended with the _Erasmus_ crashing into the jungles of Ceres, is it really that surprising that he can fly? She inwardly snorted. He could probably resurrect the dead while he was at it.

She turned to her enigmatic savior. "Thank you," she said. "For saving my life."

He didn't deign to reply. Somehow, she really wasn't expecting him to.

"Turing," Freya said, "how long was I out?"

"Current stardate is October the second, 2 p.m.," Turing replied.

"Damn," Freya said. She let out a breath. "Avadine? My mother?"

"Transmission was sent, however I cannot receive a reply due to the interference from the asteroid belt," Turing replied. "I did a preliminary survey. Avadine and several starships have entered the atmosphere and are looking for us. However, they are quite far away, I presume."

"You presume?" Freya asked, raising an eyebrow.

"He," the metal ball tilted towards Sesshomaru, "flew us quite far. Approximately two hundred miles from the _Erasmus_."

Sesshomaru watched as Freya nodded pensively. She was quiet for a moment, lost in thought. "I suppose you have questions," she said slowly. She had a feeling that he wasn't the type to ask for help, much less questions, so she went on. "I'll tell you what you need to know for now."

She gestured towards Turing, and the little ball flashed another hologram upon the ground. It showed a dark cave. "Several friends of mine stumbled on this cave back on our home planet," she began. "It had been sealed around 1545 AD. They found you inside."

The hologram showed a stone sarcophagus, and Sesshomaru narrowed his eyes as he saw his own image. His eyes were closed, and he appeared peaceful. His eyes lingered on the arrow embedded within his chest, and he shook off the memories associated with it. Now was not the time for sentiment. He searched the image, but couldn't find the swords. He frowned. He was certain the Tenseiga and the Bakusaiga had both been buried with him. Kagome would have made sure of it.

"My friends called me, and I came," Freya went on, oblivious to the demon lord's musings. "Our initial assessment of you was…unusual. So, I decided to bring you to my home world." The hologram shifted to show a small blue and white planet hovering in an infinite void of black. Beside it, Sesshomaru saw another planet, brown with rings.

"That is my home, Titan," she said.

Sesshomaru frowned. She must have seen his confusion, because Freya went on. "I suppose I should tell you a little bit about this time," she muttered. She glanced at the entrance to the cave. Late afternoon light spilled through.

"We are safe," Sesshomaru said, as though reading her thoughts.

Freya blinked. She supposed he would be able to sense Avadine and her lackeys from far away. The thought gave her a measure of comfort. She stood and sat closer to him to be near the fire. "Like I said before, the year is 3999 AD," she began. "It was 1545 when, I presume, you were sealed within the cave…"

Sesshomaru listened quietly as the girl told him of how humans had advanced in the centuries that he had been asleep. The little metal ball, Turing, often flashed holographic pictures as Freya explained. She did not tell him everything, she said, only those that he needed to know, enough to orient himself to the day and age. He inwardly frowned. He was the type of person who thought of ignorance as a weakness, and he inwardly swore he would know more about this strange new world he found himself in.

But for now, he had other pressing matters to attend to.

As Freya explained how humans left their old home of Earth (his home as well, he supposed), a part of his mind strayed once more to the Tenseiga and Bakusaiga. A memory came unbidden to him then…

 _His sister-in-law looked up at him. She was bleeding from a cut above her right eye, and her face was smeared with dirt. Her eyes appeared haunted, and empty. All around them, fires raged and the scent of blood hung heavy in the air. They had nearly lost the war._

 _Sesshomaru clutched the Tenseiga in a clawed hand. The blade now glowed black. They had won the war, but at what price?_

" _Are you sure, Sesshomaru?" Kagome asked, her voice dull. She clutched an arrow in one hand, her bow in the other. He eyed the arrow she held. It had been crafted from the very boughs of Bokusenon, and enchanted by Kagome herself. It pulsed with her spiritual power._

" _It is the only way," he said quietly, eyeing the blade he held._

 _Kagome clutched the arrow so tightly, he thought she might snap it. "I…I lost Inuyasha," she said, her eyes glistening with unshed tears. "I don't think I can lose you, too! You're…you're my brother! And you're Rin's father! Would you leave her alone like this?"_

" _She will have you," he said curtly. "You are being nonsensical."_

 _Kagome's eyes widened. She smiled a small, sad smile. "I…I guess I am," she said. "I'm…being so foolish."_

"Do you have any other questions?" Freya's voice snapped him out of his thoughts.

"No," he said tersely. He quietly vowed to learn more about this new world. Everything. From its military power to how humans grew their food. He would need to know this world if he were to adapt better to it.

He eyed the girl sitting near him. She tilted her head at him, an eyebrow arched questioningly. She sounded like a smart woman and, from what he'd gathered, she had a bit of influence. Two things he could make use of, he admitted.

"It's considered rude to stare, where I am from," Freya said, shrugging.

Sesshomaru glared at her. "Who are you?" he asked.

"I told you, my name is—"

"Lunafreya von Silas," Sesshomaru interrupted. "I am aware. It is not your name I was referring to."

"Oh," Freya said. She clasped her hands on her lap, a habit she had when she was nervous. "Well…My mother is Captain Emerys von Silas. She is quite influential in the Militia, being their best pilot. She and Avadine have a long history, which was why Avadine was so keen on hunting me yesterday."

"My father," Freya went on, "is Triumvir Dr. Maximus von Silas. He and two others form the Triumvirate of Solaris, the governing body of the solar system." She shrugged.

Sesshomaru noted this with a nod. He was silent for a moment. "Do not forget our deal," he said coldly.

Freya sighed. "I keep my promises," she said. "My friends who found you in the cave claimed the seal on it had never been broken. Once we get out of this mess, I'll ask them about your swords. Though I don't know why you'd need swords, when you're like a walking army on your own." The last part she muttered quietly but, of course, he could still hear her. He chose to ignore the jibe.

At that moment, a loud growl resonated through the cave, and Freya blushed scarlet as she placed a hand on her stomach. She glanced at the cave entrance, where the light was starting to dim.

"It's 5 p.m., currently," Turing piped up before she could ask.

"Time flies by so fast," Freya said as she stood. She dusted herself off, and turned to Sesshomaru. "I'm going to look for something to eat. Stay here."

Sesshomaru raised an eyebrow at her audacity for telling him what to do. "Nothing personal," Freya said, gesturing to his clothing, "but you stick out like a sore thumb in the jungle."

He eyed the white suit she wore beneath her white jacket. In reply, Freya shrugged out of the white jacket, and the suit shifted color so splashes of black, brown and yellow replaced the white. "Camouflage," Freya said with a shrug as she strode out of the cave.

"Do you think it's wise to trust him?" Turing asked once they'd walked a little farther away.

Freya narrowed her eyes at the trees. Once she'd deemed it safe, she walked past them and into a grove of more trees where several were heavy with apples. Apples in a jungle, she thought as she plucked three, whoever terraformed Ceres was probably a bit drunk.

"I'm being ignored," Turing said woefully, hovering closer to her.

Freya sighed. "At the moment, I don't really have much of a choice," she said, plucking more apples. "I need to get out of this alive. He looks like he's more than a match for Avadine and her cronies, anyway. You saw what he did to the Black Death droids…and the ship."

"You made a promise to him," he pointed out.

Freya nodded. "I intend to keep it," she said. "I don't go back on my promises, Turing. They're just swords. Though why he'd need them is a mystery to me, seeing as what he can do with his bare hands." She paused. "Besides…He's two thousand years old or more, Turing. Think of all the things I could learn from him. Where do his powers come from? What gives him the ability to dissolve titanium? How can he fly? How does he _work_?"

"I've never heard you this interested in a man before," Turing said flatly. He hovered in front of her face, metal surface gleaming. "Curiosity killed the cat, you know."

She swatted him away. "He is fascinating, you must admit," she said. "An interesting specimen, if you will."

"I can hear Joharis de Lanfranya sobbing in a corner," Turing said. If he'd had eyes, no doubt he'd be rolling them.

"Remind me to reprogram you," Freya said irritably. "You're getting far too liberal."

"You programed me to learn, after all," Turing said.

They made their way back towards the cave where they found Sesshomaru sitting in the same position they'd left him in. Freya sat an arm's length away from him. "Would you like some?" she asked, offering him an apple. "Considering you've been hibernating for two thousand years, you must be starving."

Sesshomaru ignored the apple. "No, thank you." His voice was colder than Pluto.

Freya shrugged and bit into the apple. They were silent for a moment. "Can I ask you a question?" she ventured, turning to him.

"Hn."

"Why is it that you want your swords back badly?" she asked, tilting her head. "I've seen the way you destroyed my droids. You seem very powerful, so why the swords?"

"That," Sesshomaru said, turning to her, "is none of your concern."

Freya blinked as he stared back into the fire. "Not a very trusting chap, is he?" Turing said, hovering close to her ear.

"Quiet, Turing," Freya sighed. She turned back to Sesshomaru, and was about to ask him again when the demon turned his golden eyes to the cave entrance. Night had fallen outside, and she could see the stars in the sky.

"They are close," he said suddenly as he stood.

Freya quickly kicked sand onto the fire before she stood up. She wished she had a blaster on her. She wasn't entirely keen on depending on her enigmatic companion for protection, because Turing did have a point. She wasn't entirely sure if she could trust him at the moment.

"Turing," Freya whispered.

She watched as little flat disks whizzed out of the metal ball and streaked out into the jungle. Turing projected a dim holograph onto the cave floor and Freya watched as thick foliage passed by. "Turing sent out hovercams," Freya explained in a whisper to Sesshomaru, who stared at the holograph. "They should be able to show us where Avadine is."

She knelt beside the holograph, eyes narrowed intently. A moment later, the holograph showed a dozen people, partially hidden in the dark, blasters held at the ready. High above the trees, the holocams picked up three starchasers soaring past.

Freya felt her stomach vanish. She did a quick mental calculation. From what she had seen of Sesshomaru, he was powerful with those claws of his. No doubt, he was a match for Avadine and her cronies. She was not entirely sure if he could take out the two starchasers overhead. What if he could? What if he could beat them all? Would he be able to handle them all, and protect her? She scowled, dearly wishing she had a blaster with her. As it was, she would be a sitting duck. Deadweight. And it wouldn't be fair to ask Sesshomaru to deal with them all while she hid like some helpless damsel.

"I calculate that your chances of escaping without mortal injury to yourself are quite slim," Turing offered.

"Oh, quiet, Turing," Freya said. "And just me, really?"

If Turing had shoulders, he would have shrugged.

Sesshomaru stared at her. Admittedly, he would have no problem handling the humans with the weapons. They were easy enough to deal with. The problem was the two ships flying above. They were fast, he admitted. No doubt they carried heavy weaponry on board. It would be tedious to deal with them without his weapons.

"I think we ought to run before they get any nearer," Freya suggested.

Sesshomaru narrowed his eyes, not please with her answer. "The expression on your face tells me you don't want to, but I think we ought to," she said reasonably. "We're clearly outnumbered, and they—"

At that moment, the holograph Turing projected suddenly shifted to black before vanishing.

Freya swore. "They found the hovercam. We have to leave," she said urgently. Sesshomaru nodded and strode out of the cave, Freya following close behind.

As Ceres didn't have a moon, only the stars shone brightly above them. Turing hovered before her, lighting her way with a dimmed flarelight. But before she could take another step, Sesshomaru suddenly said, "Get down."

Freya automatically ducked just as a flash of light soared above her head a fraction of a second later. "Found you!"

Avadine and several men and women suddenly burst through the trees, all mounted on hoverbikes. Avadine had her blaster out, a manic look in her two-toned eyes as she eyed Lunafreya like a cat about to pounce. "There you are, my lovely Lunafreya," Avadine said, smirking.

"Hello, Avadine," Freya said, nonchalant, as though she had just run into the pirate leader on the streets.

Sesshomaru flexed a clawed hand, and this movement brought Avadine's attention to him. "Oh my, oh my!" she said, grinning. "What do we have here?" Her eyebrows rose at the sight of Sesshomaru's appearance

Sesshomaru glared at her. "Just an inconsequential friend of mine," Freya said, shrugging.

"You know what they say," a woman on Avadine's left said, "the friend of my enemy is…is…" She blinked, her large brown eyes bewildered.

Avadine sighed. "You'll have to excuse her," she said, twirling her blaster. "Ludicilla is a bit…slow on the uptake." Her smile grew nasty. "So, what'll be it, Lunafreya and Lunafreya's friend? Quick and painless, or slow and painful? I'd much rather prefer the latter."

And then Freya heard a very ominous sound that she wasn't likely to forget in her life.

Sesshomaru _chuckled._

It sent a shiver up Freya's spine, and made the hairs on her arms stand on end. Avadine must have sensed it, too, because she aimed her blaster straight at Sesshomaru's face. Her lackeys followed suit, blasters all trained on the demon beside Freya. "What," Avadine said acidly, "is so funny? Care to share?"

Sesshomaru raised a clawed hand in front of his face which promptly glowed a toxic green. Avadine stared at it, frowning. "Humans," Sesshomaru said frostily. "You are far too presumptuous."

Before Freya could even blink, a white blur shot from beside her. The next thing she heard was a cry of pain and despair as Sesshomaru plunged his clawed hand straight through the chest of a man beside Avadine. Shouts and cries rang out as Avadine and her fellows open fired. The clearing was filled with the sound of blasterfire, and white light as they tried to shoot down Sesshomaru.

Freya quickly dived behind a tree to avoid the rain of blasterfire. "I think now would be a good time to run, mistress!" Turing said, his cool voice sounding frantic as he hovered beside Freya.

"I can't leave him behind, Turing!" Freya exclaimed. She yelped as her tree was stuck by blasterfire, sending splinters of wood scattering.

"He seems do be doing very fine on his own," Turing pointed out.

Freya risked a peek from around the tree, and wished she hadn't. Several of Avadine's men and women were lying on the grass, blood spilling from mortal wounds on their bodies, staining the undergrowth a dark red. The flesh surrounding the wounds appeared burnt and blistering. And their eyes…they were looking up at the starry sky with dead eyes, and mouths open in silent screams of horror.

Freya ducked back behind her tree as more blasters fired. "Oh," she said, a bit sick. "That was…a lot of blood."

She'd never seen so much carnage in all her life. Compared to the days of Old Earth when crimes and killings were rampant, Solarian society was mostly peaceful, with conflicts being resolved with swift diplomacy. Oh, crimes were still committed, but these had been so minor. One could count on one hand the number of murders that occurred on Titan in a year. And she had never really seen murder, mayhem, and death this up close.

She shivered.

Sesshomaru really _was_ a demon. What else could do what he did? What else could kill all those people without fear, remorse, or pity in his eyes?

For a moment, Turing's question earlier rang through her mind. Could she really trust this…demon? This…force of death and destruction?

She glanced from behind her tree again. Only Avadine, the woman called Ludicilla, and a dark skinned man remained. The pirate leader was shrieking with rage as she fired blast after blast at the white blur that danced effortlessly through her attacks.

"WHY. WON'T. YOU. DIE!" Avadine shrieked as she and her companions fired. She had lost her toxic playfulness and had the murderous look of a banshee.

Freya watched as the white blur came to a halt in front of Avadine, who gasped and took a step back. Sesshomaru looked down at her as though she was some piece of dirt on the sole of his boot. "You are two thousand years too young," he said. Reaching out, he seized Avadine's blaster, and his claws glowed a sickly green. Freya watched in fascination as Avadine's blaster melted in his hand, remnants dripping to the ground.

Avadine gaped, then she grinned. "Oh ho," she said, as she placed a hand on her companions' shoulder. "Is this the Militia's latest little science experiment, Lunafreya?"

"You wish," Freya muttered darkly as she emerged from behind the tree. She spied a discarded blaster nearby and gingerly picked it up, wiping the blood from the grip on her jacket.

Sesshomaru glared at Avadine, but before he could raise his claws, he stared up at the sky. A moment later a loud hum reverberated through the air and Avadine grinned nastily as three starchasers soared overhead to hover just above their clearing.

"I _nearly_ forgot about these!" Avadine's smirk was catlike.

Before Freya could even blink, she felt her feet leaving the ground as Sesshomaru scooped her up into his arms. The next moment, she felt the cold wind against her face as he flew into the air just as the sound of heavy laserblasts filled the clearing they had been in seconds before.

Freya gasped as she unthinkingly wrapped her arms around the demon's neck. He was flying! He was _really_ flying! No ship, no jetpack, just him. It felt odd, it felt liberating, and it felt frightening. Afraid he might let her go, she wrapped her arms around his neck even tighter, and he glared at her.

"A little warning would have been nice!" Freya snapped, feeling out of her element.

"I believe the correct words are 'thank you'!" Turing said from within the confines of her jacket.

"Shut up, Turing!"

Sesshomaru was sorely tempted to drop her.

Before he could fully contemplate this, he felt a strong wave of energy speeding towards him. He flew higher just as a streak of hot and red light whizzed beneath him.

"Laserblasts!" Freya exclaimed. She peeked over Sesshomaru's shoulder. Avadine's three starchasers were gaining on them. "They're getting closer!"

Sesshomaru frowned. Humans had indeed come far to have created ships that could fly almost as fast as him. Almost as fast.

Freya let out a gasp as white light suddenly enveloped them. For a moment her vision was nothing but white, but quite as suddenly as it had come, it vanished and she found that Sesshomaru was now standing with her in his arms atop a cliff overlooking the jungle. The starchasers were gone.

"Wow," she said, looking up at him. "Did you…teleport? Or did you just fly faster? Or—" Before she could finish, he let go of her and she fell unceremoniously to the ground with a dull thud.

"That was quite uncalled for!" she huffed as she stood.

Sesshomaru ignored her as he turned his gaze to the sky. A low hum told him that the starchasers had caught up to him already. He smirked. Humans and their technology.

Beside him, Freya let out a little gasp as the three starchasers came soaring out of the clouds from high above them. They found us fast, Freya thought. Unless…Sesshomaru hadn't really bought them far? Why? Shouldn't they be getting away? Why was he—

He's going to fight them, she realized. He was planning on going up against three fully armed starchasers with his bare hands? She looked at him doubtfully. Powerful as he was, how on earth was he going to do that? Had the 2,454 years of sleep somehow messed with his mind?

"I estimate that our chances of survival," Turing began.

"Shut. Up." Freya gritted her teeth. She turned to Sesshomaru as the three starchasers drew closer to the ground. "Shouldn't we be trying to run?"

He glanced at her. "Who do you think I am?"

Before she could answer he vanished in a flash of red light. She gasped and took a step back as the flash of light streaked towards the sky, hovering in the air for a brief moment before crashing back down to the earth. She yelped as she was knocked off her, rubble raining around her. What the…

Where the light had crashed into, where Sesshomaru had once been, there now stood an enormous…dog? It was both majestic and gigantic, towering at a hundred feet or so. Its bloodred eyes found hers, and she gaped. It was silver, the same silver of Sesshomaru's hair. On its forehead was the same crescent moon that had graced Sesshomaru's, and the same double striped marks were on its muzzle.

"Fascinating." Turing had come out of her jacket.

Freya continued to gape. "He…he really is a dog."


End file.
